reported by pelinks4u editorial assistant Kim McCorquodale

This month we are featuring Donna Schaefer who was recently awarded the Special Populations State Award for Adapted PE teachers during the Washington Association of Health, PE, Recreation and Dance state conference held in Pasco in October.

Donna has been employed as an Adapted Teacher in the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington for the past 29 years. She relayed to me an interesting story about the dress code when she first started teaching. Donna was required for the first several years to wear a dress to school. She would then change into her PE teaching clothes for class, then back into her dress to eat lunch, and then back again into her PE clothes to teach. Donna couldn't remember if she was required to change into her dress before going home. I wonder how much time that took each day!

She currently teaches students from kindergarten age through age 21 at several schools in the district. When she first began teaching, she was the only Adapted PE teacher in the district. Her department currently employs 7 specialists in a district that now totals over 25,000 students. She works primarily with students with the most severe disabilities. In one class, she serves 12 students in wheelchairs. She also teaches classes for students with autism.

Donna has organized and brought nationally recognized speakers, who teach ways to increase academic skills through movement, to Vancouver. These workshops have been well attended by teachers and therapists from throughout the Pacific Northwest. Donna explained that many students don't have the necessary core muscles to sit at their school desks for long periods, or the arm or hand strength needed to write. Many are unable to track with their eyes from left to right and so have difficulty learning to read. These programs employ physical activities that help students of all abilities learn more efficiently. The programs she brought in were S'cool Moves, Bal-A-Vis X and Brain Gym.

The S'cool Moves motto found on their website (www.schoolmoves.com) is "Calmer, Focused children in minutes a day." Their program "brings the practical application of occupational therapy, behavioral optometry, reading theory, brain, research, and mind-body science to classrooms, clinics, and homes." Their program claims to show you how to:

	calm students in minutes		increase focus power
	help your bottom quarter who don't receive special services		enhance collaboration between all service providers
	provide engaging transition breaks		increase accountability by adding S'cool Moves to RTI
	encourage self-regulation with our "talk less, show more" motto		improve academic skills
	individualize instruction for children with special needs

An interesting quote found on their webpage was by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. author of "Smart Moves: Why Learning Isn't All in Your Head."

"The more closely we consider the elaborate interplay of brain and body, the more clearly one compelling theme emerges: Movement is essential to learning. Movement awakens and activates many of our mental capacities."

Donna has found this program to be very useful in preparing her student's to improve their directionality, crossing the midline and focusing skills. Many of the regular and special education teachers in the buildings where she works use these 1 minute activities before their students sit down and write or read. Certain exercises will either calm the brain, or increase excitement so that successful learning can occur.

Donna uses the calming activities at the beginning and ending of many of her classes, especially for her classes for students with autism. Donna mentioned Debra Wilson Heiberger who co-wrote, along with Margot Heiniger-White, a program entitled S’cool Moves for Learning: A Program Designed to Enhance Learning Through Body-Mind Integration. The program is based on Heiniger-White's Learning Pyramid theory. The following quote provides a great description of their program.

"A reading specialist and occupational therapist come together to discuss why children struggle with academics and behavior challenges. This book is packed with powerful learning theory and practical application. The authors solidly explain why optimal learning occurs when connecting body, mind, and emotions. The theory is based on Margot Heiniger White's Learning Pyramid, developed from over 30 years working with children experiencing behavior and developmental challenges.

Integration of eight pyramid levels lead to academic, emotional, and social success. The book is divided into chapters for each pyramid level. Strategies for success, student profiles, integrative movements and activities are included in each chapter. Interviews with specialists in the fields of autism, developmental optometry, and listening therapy bring together perspectives from related fields. Five years of statistical data showing the effectiveness of the program is found in the appendix. Poster PE, Minute Moves, and Focus Plans are also available by the authors."

Donna also uses the Bal-A-Vis-X (Balance/Auditory/Vision Exercises) program that uses activities and principles from educational kinesiology requiring focus and coordination. It is used by many as an intervention and motivational tool for issues that range from reading readiness to older student's challenges in mathematics. The program was developed by Bill Hubert, and information about it can be found in his book, Bal-A-Vis-X: Rhythmic Balance/Auditory/Vision eXercises for Brain and Brain-Body Integration (2001).

Hubert was an elementary and middle school teacher who "Over time...concluded that all of his students who struggled academically tended to exhibit similar physical characteristics," some of which he described as: "an inability to control eyes, an inability to focus attention, an inability to sit or stand without moving, graceless, often illegible handwriting, and a stiff/locked posture while sitting, standing, walking, or running."

His program uses tools like bean bags, racquet balls and balance boards. Donna has found that some students can learn certain skills while on the balance board that they couldn't do while sitting in their desk. She believes the program helps with issues such as decreased focus, inability to sit still, eye tracking, and crossing the midline. I found varied opinions after reading input from some who have read his book; however, it’s difficult to argue with success, and Donna believes implementing his ideas has increased her student's learning ability.

The third program Donna mentioned was Brain Gym, and information about it can be found at www.braingym.org. Their website describes Brain Gym as "a program of physical movements that enhance learning and performance in ALL areas. Brain Gym includes 26 easy and enjoyable targeted activities that integrate body and mind to bring about rapid and often dramatic improvements in: concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more. Brain Gym develops the brain's neural pathways the way nature does - through movement."

Dr. Paul Dennison and Gail E. Dennison developed this new approach to learning and the field called Educational Kinesiology or "learning through movement," in the 1970s. Their website states that Brain Gym is used in over 80 countries and in thousands of schools worldwide. Donna said that "there's something about these movement that gets the brain and body functioning together with integration throughout the body," and that's she's "having a lot of success with all of these programs."

Donna strives to keep up with the most current research/educational movements that help students increase their gross motor skills and coordination. On November 8th, about 30 of her students competed for a new Guinness World record in Sport Stacking (stacking specially designed cups). It is the second year in a row that they have attempted to set a record for the number of students and individuals throughout the world to Sport Stack in one day. Donna told me that the official count had recently come in with over 130,000 participating and thus easily breaking the previous record by 60,000. She has hosted a district wide Sport Stacking competition and is planning on taking some of her students to the State Sport Stacking competition to be held in Auburn, Washington in March. Donna thinks sport stacking helps her students learn partly because the activity involves using both hands and having to cross the midline.

In September Donna, along with over 100 women from across the country, was honored by Washington State University for their involvement and commitment to women's athletics. The 3 day event -"Legacy in Women's Athletics" - honored female athletes who were members of sport teams or clubs before scholarships, university financial support or letter awards were given at the school.

In the late 1970's, she and her husband Jim helped to develop a comprehensive Special Olympic program for SW Washington. Over the next ten years in her district, teams were developed at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. Coaches were paid on the coach's salary schedule. Teams and individuals competed in regional, state and international competitions. Donna and Jim coached teams in Evergreen, Camas and Washougal in basketball, volleyball and track. They spent their first wedding anniversary at the International Special Olympic games in New York where Jim was a coach and Donna was part of the Washington staff.

In 1980, Donna's high school Special Olympic basketball team won the State Special Olympic tournament for their age division in Seattle. This was the first state championship of any kind for the newly opened Mountain View High School in Vancouver. Even though Evergreen no longer sponsors Special Olympics (due to budget cuts), Donna continues to promote Special Olympics in the area. She helped coordinate special events with the Oregon Special Olympics and NIKE in the spring and in October. Last year she coached and took a mixed age group of athletes to the Special Olympics State Games held at Fort Lewis, Washington.

In 1980 Donna helped organize a county wide event for students with physical disabilities in southwest Washington. This spring will mark the event's 28th consecutive year. She has been involved in the organization most of those years in one capacity or another. During the games, students participate in trike races, running events, wheelchair dashes and slalom races, throwing events, basketball competition, sport stacking, bowling, bocce, and many other events. Every year over 150 students compete from seven school districts including the Washington State Blind and Deaf Schools. Each participant receives a custom designed t-shirt designed by a participant, plus ribbons and medal for their efforts-everyone is a winner! Students and staff look forward to this special event all year. Donna did say that many of the original staff are nearing retirement and that it is becoming more difficult to recruit new volunteers. She wasn't sure if the event will be able to continue in the future.

In 1994, Donna received a $15,000 grant to design a handicap accessible playground for one of her schools which housed a classroom of students in wheelchairs. The school district provided a tartan surface to put under the structure so that students in wheelchairs can maneuver on it easily. Donna worked with the PTA and school district to design this playground that is used by all students.

Donna works with a teacher in the Clark County Skills Center welding program. His students make specialized bikes for her students who cannot ride a regular bike. Some of the designs included side-by-side bikes or a bike with 2 wheels in front for added stability. Students have also attached a wheelchair to the side of a bike so that a student who uses a wheelchair can experience travelling around a track at a faster speed. Many of these bikes are given to families to use at home. Commercially produced bikes like these are very expensive, and thus many families would be unable to purchase them. She has also worked with welding and woodwork classes at her high schools. Students from these programs have constructed special basketball hoops and wood project for use by her special needs students.

Donna has worked for over twenty years with Boy Scouts who are looking for Eagle Scout projects. Scouts have made wood targets for her students to throw at, benches, scooters, balance boards (over 150 at last count), side-by-side bikes, and many other projects that are used by regular ed and special education students throughout the district. These volunteer projects are essential for her due to there not being a specific budget to purchase these materials/tools. There has not been a budget for these supplies for over 15 years. She also scrounges at garage sales and has held numerous school licorice and popcorn sales in her elementary schools to help raise money for the teaching tools that she needs for her special needs students.

Outside of teaching, Donna and her husband Jim raised three daughters who also were all involved in sports throughout their school years. Their youngest daughter is a senior on the Concordia University women's basketball team in Portland. Donna was part of the Senior Parent organization for the Senior Drug Free Party for 6 years in a row and was the co-coordinator for 4 of those years. She was very involved in her daughter's performing dance group as the Back Stage coordinator and traveled with the group to Washington DC, New York, Disney World, England, Australia and New Zealand. Donna was also the Special Education representative for her local teacher’s union for over eight years and attended both state and national conventions.

Before coming to Evergreen, Donna was a PE teacher at the junior high and high school in Tenino, Washington. She coached volleyball, basketball, track and gymnastics at both the middle school and high school level. She also taught an extensive outdoor education/survival program for the district. During her first year at Tenino she had the honor of teaching the first coed Advanced PE class in Washington.

Donna participated in an AAHPERD sponsored trip to the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The tour included attending an international PE conference in London, a week-long trip to Paris and Switzerland and four days at the International Scientific Conference in Munich before the Olympic opening day ceremonies. All of the tour participants lived with families in Munich during their stay in Germany. She was in the Olympic Village just a few hours prior to the shooting of the Israel athletes. She had attended a dance there and was planning on returning the next morning, but obviously everything changed after the shootings. While in Norway and before the AAHPERD tour, she attended a track meet as a guest of the US Olympic coaches that she had met while attending the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. Steve Prefontaine was the hero of the night. Donna also attended the 1976 Olympics in Montreal as part of an AAHPERD tour.

She graduated from WSU with a degree in Physical Education and received her masters at the University of Oregon in a nationally sponsored program that gave her a degree in Adapted PE, Specialized Recreation and Special Education.

When asked why she was so involved with her students and community she stated, "I grew up in a small farming community in eastern Washington called Pomeroy. My PE teacher was the home economics teacher. There were no organized sports or sport related activities for girls in any area except for a two month swim team program during the summer months. I saw a need to be pro-active in promoting sports and activities for all students." Donna claims not to be an exceptional teacher, but one who has worked with great teaching models throughout the state and a lot of excellent assistants and student helpers.

In her 38 years of teaching, her emphasis has been to give all kids the opportunity to be part of a team. She tries to put parents in touch with available recreational and sports programs. Today her students, some of which have little or almost no mobility in their arms or legs, are involved and are participating on softball teams including the newly formed Miracle League and the well established Challenge Baseball in Clark County. Donna stated, "The smile on their faces, as they cross the finish line, cross home plate, or accomplish a skill or activity for the first time, is what keeps me going."

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